I was rather surprised when I discovered we had them this week, assuming we were away to Dundee United or Dunfermline - teams we haven't played away since the start of the season. But to the Highlands we must go and there probably isn't a worse time to get Caley Thistle. They're going rather well at the moment, having beaten Hearts and Motherwell and knocked Dunfermline out of the Scottish Cup in between. We desperately need a win and Inverness has rarely been the place to provide us with one.
This could be make or break stuff for our entire season. If we win it would give us a huge boost and could reignite our fading chances of making it into the top six. If we lose then have no doubts about it - we were very much in a relegation battle and we only have ourselves to blame. We haven't turned up in either game against Caley Thistle this season and that really has to change tomorrow if we don't want another year trying not to finish 12.
We are on a poor run of form at the moment, the Christmas Eve win over Rangers our only league victory in the last two months - a bad run that has included a defeat to tomorrow's opponents. However, while we may have lost to Celtic there were signs of encouragement. Had it not been for their keeper we'd have got at least a point and we can take heart in our loss. Play like that tomorrow and we should be heading home with a point. Play as we have done in the other two games against Caley Thistle this season and we'll deserve to get beaten.
Being a Saints fan means you know that some good news will be offset by some bad news fairly quickly. And so, while we revelled in Jim Goodwin signing a new contract yesterday, we were dealt a blow with the news Kenny McLean has broken his collar bone and will be missing for the next six weeks. With Goodwin also likely to be out that leaves us with some readjusting to do in midfield. David Barron will probably keep his place with Hugh Murray, Steven Thomson, Gary Teale and Aaron Mooy forming an orderly queue to replace McLean. Thomson probably offers the best balance between getting stuck in and getting forward and is likely to get the nod.
All being well the former player curse will work in our favour tomorrow and Dougie Imrie will get his first goal for us. He was excellent against Celtic last week, posing a real threat to their defence, providing some decent passes and going close to scoring. Hopefully he'll break his duck tomorrow, or provide a goal for someone else, and then go on a wee run. If he keeps playing like that then we should have nothing to fear and will start getting a few more wins.
The more I hear about and from Terry Butcher the more I think of Inverness Caley Thistle in the same vein as Jack Charlton's Ireland squads. The team spirit seems fantastic and Butcher has a rather unusual method of dealing with players and encouraging them - such as fining them for using the word "tired" after midweek games and the offer of pizzas and Irn-Bru if they win away from home. The sports scientists must love that one! He's usually good value in press conferences and has turned things round after a disappointing start to the season and a win tomorrow would lift them above us and closer to the top six.
Butcher's description of Johnny Hayes after his side's win in Paisley was another example of his entertainment value, although due to the number of expletives used it probably shouldn't be repeated here. The Irish winger is on fire this morning, playing a big part in Caley Thistle's turnaround, and often does well against us - having scored at Greenhill Road earlier in the season. Hopefully our defence will have him handled and we could really do with giving him a good kick early doors in a bid to quieten him down.
That's something Ross Tokely won't shirk in doing if Imrie or Paul McGowan decides to run at him. Despite having ended at least one player's career due to his thugishness he is inexplicably held up as a model professional and something to aspire to. There's no doubting the fact he's been loyal to Caley Thistle (probably due to no one else wanting him) and it's rather sad most people seem to overlook certain tackles involving him in the past. Annoyingly, he always seems to rub it in by having a stormer against us and has scored a couple of goals at Love Street and Greenhill Road.
Gregory Tade is probably the pacey sort of player Tokely would quite like to maim but fortunately for the Frenchman he is playing in the same team as the big defender these days. It was often said during his time at Raith Rovers that he was a great athlete but not that good a footballer, however he's gone some way to proving that wrong this season. Yes, he still misses sitters but he also scores some and the odd screamer and has been a good addition to Butcher's side this season. Like Hayes we should probably kick him early doors and see if it makes a difference!
Caley Thistle have a few injury problems at the moment with Andrew Shinnie, Roman Golobart and Chris Hogg all missing - the latter's absence seeming to have coincided with their upturn in form! However, they still have plenty of other good players. Richie Foran has plenty of experience and might not score as many as he used to but is still a threat, while Shane Sutherland scored with a rather fortunate header against Hearts last week and Sam Winnall has arrived on loan from Wolves. Defensively they are strong with Shinnie's brother Graeme playing alongside Tokely and Ryan Esson and Jonny Tuffey fighting it out for the goalkeeper's shirt. They also have Steve Williams, who is apparently a young centre-half on loan from Bradford and not Tiger Woods' former caddy.
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